11-2.4 The Human Touch

After reading Box 7.9 (p.195) it made me think of my good friend, Scott. He's the leader (Police Chief) of the LGPD. I've known him for over 23 years. We worked together on many projects at SJPD. We had lunch a few months ago to catch-up on things. I met him at his office. I was escorted inside and I waited for him (he was running late). When he arrived, we greeted each other and he quickly removed his tie. He said, "No Tie, July". He said that he had asked the members of the office staff to make some suggestions to enhance the office environment (about 40 employees - detectives). He said, "they thought that not wearing ties for the month of July would be a nice change.

Then we left his office, he talked with a few people on the way out and we were on our way to the deli. As we walked on the sidewalk, the sun was shining, the day was clear, it was picture perfect! As we stopped at the lights to cross the street, we received several waves from passer-bys. He smiled and spoke to the people by their first name (he always had a knack for remembering people's names). As we made it to the restaurant he was finishing answering the question I had posed him. I had asked, are you happy here at this small department, do you ever regret leaving San Jose and the potential to lead a larger department?

He just smiled, and said, "this is a great place and I love the people. I know most of the business owners and I feel like the officers are doing the right thing. I couldn't do this at SJPD." He told me that he really got to know the officers and felt that they had an idea about how he wanted the department run. As we walked back to his office, an officer drove by and waved, a shop keeper came out of the store to thank the Chief for his officers responding to a call last month. It was just another day in Los Gatos...